Workers Share Their Salary Secrets

Generally speaking, social edict in the work place forbid talking about salaries with each other. Companies frown on it, and co-workers may believe this type of conversation is rude. That is beginning to change, the atmosphere in workplaces today have become more transparent and people are willing to share more private details, especially those born in the 1980s and 90s. This article, published on the WSJ, was provocative in so far as I have been told by my firm not to talk about salary. It allows the firm to have the upper hand to pay more or less based on what employees may see as arbitrary points. Discussing salaries can be tricky business because if you're on the lower end, you're much more likely to become dissatisfied with your job or consequently the person on the receiving end of the conversation fill with resentment toward the firm. Some companies have attempted to tackle this program by either posting salaries of staff or are more transparent in how people are compensated. It has yet to be seen the effects of this in the workplace, but studies are showing employees to be more efficient because they can either work toward higher pay by attaining benchmarks or just the satisfaction of knowing their fairly compensated. This article is interesting because I was surprised how many people are willing to openly discuss their salary with others. I'm an 80s child and do not feel as though I fit into this group. I personally know of people who discussed salaries and when attempting to use this for a raise, the firm told him to seek employment elsewhere if he wanted the salary he was demanding. Source: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324345804578426744168583824.html?mod=e2fb